


Eye to Eye

by fabrega



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: 5+1 Things, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 07:53:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11436477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabrega/pseuds/fabrega
Summary: Five times Doomfist asked Hanzo to join Talon, and one time he didn't.





	Eye to Eye

**Author's Note:**

> I have been busily working on pieces for [Blackwatch Week](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/BlackwatchWeek/profile), but I just HAD to take a little break to write this. 
> 
> Thanks, as always, to [smarshtastic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smarshtastic/), great beta and even better sport. ♥

i.

The first time Akande encounters the strange man with the bow, their eyes meet across a room of dead security guards. Akande has killed a lot of them; conflict has not strengthened these men, but humanity is stronger for their loss. The ones he hadn't killed, though, the archer had, with deadly, pinpoint accuracy. Now, they stand separated by the space, the man's bow at the ready, aimed at Akande's head. For his part, Akande has his gauntlet at the ready too, ready to rocket-punch across the room and slam the archer through the wall if need be. Akande takes in the elaborate tattoo on the archer's left arm, the way his muscles flex as he holds the bow steady, the even, analytical look on his face.

They stand like that for a long moment, taut like bowstrings, watching each other and waiting.

The archer breaks first, lowering his weapon and offering a curt bow. They can both hear rumblings from the next room that sound like reinforcements, and neither can afford to be found unprepared.

"Skills like yours would be of much use to Talon," Akande finds himself saying. He's not certain he even has the authority to make such an offer, but he's certain he's not wrong.

The archer chuckles. "What can Talon offer me? What use have I for Talon?" With that, he turns on his heel and leaves. Akande hears a sort of fluttering noise from the hallway outside; when he makes his way across the room and out the door the archer had used for his abrupt departure, he finds three more dead security guards, too many arrows stuck in them at too many odd angles. He stares after the archer, for just a moment, then continues on his way. Talon has given him a mission, and it must be completed, no matter who else shows up in the middle of it. He is the Doomfist, and he stops for no man.

  


ii.

The second time Akande encounters the strange man with the bow, he is better prepared. After the incident outside of Osaka where they'd met, he'd done his research: the man is Hanzo Shimada, eldest son and heir to the Shimada family empire of business and crime. His serious demeanor and unyielding loyalty to his family are well-known among the people who've encountered him on both sides of his family's enterprises--including, it turns out, some of Akande's subordinates at his own family's company.

There are rumors, too, involving the second Shimada son, a demonstration of the elder Shimada son's lethality and a test of his loyalty. Akande is unsure how much credence to lend these rumors, but will avoid the subject regardless.

Akande's mistake last time, the reason his offer had failed, had been a lack of preparation. Their cultures may be different, but Akande has some understanding of what it is to be the son to whom the family business falls, some idea of what might make a man like Hanzo tick. Hanzo had been right: nothing he had been offered that day had been a worthwhile offering--he had been offered nothing that day. Akande will not make the same mistake twice.

"Doomfist. We meet again," Hanzo says. He is perched on a balcony above Akande, an arrow nocked in his bow and aimed down at Akande's head. 

Akande is calm; he had known that Hanzo was there, and he knows that they are not enemies today any more than they had been their previous meeting. "Hanzo," he says, inclining his head slightly. Hanzo's eyes widen just a touch, but he doesn't react otherwise.

Akande leaps, landing heavily on the balcony next to Hanzo. Hanzo follows his trajectory with his bow but does not shoot.

"Your assistance today was valuable to Talon, yet again." Akande gestures to the office floor below them, littered with the bodies of men and women the two of them had killed. One body twitches, and Hanzo spins swiftly and lets the arrow he'd had ready sink into its skull. There is a gurgling noise, and the movement stops.

"All of them, unworthy," Hanzo spits.

Akande chuckles. "On that, we can agree."

"I am not doing this for Talon," Hanzo says, turning back to Akande.

"I know. But you could be. There is much a man like you could gain from working with us. A place for the Shimada clan in the world that's coming. A chance to prove yourself, and power of your own, in a more... _worthy_ world. The spoils of the coming war, the riches and women that follow a conquering hero."

Hanzo has not reacted to any of Akande's other offers, but at this, he laughs. "I do not need your riches, and I do not want your women."

Akande eyes him for a moment. "Perhaps the men…?"

"Your offer is unacceptable. I follow my own path. I work alone, and I work best alone." (Akande notices that he did not specifically turn down the men, notices the way Hanzo's eyes drift for a moment to Akande's own exposed chest. Testing a hypothesis, he shifts his weight, the muscles and cybernetics in his chest sliding under his skin as he moves. Hanzo's eyes drift back down and follow the movement in a way that is not entirely tactical.)

"The evidence suggests otherwise," Akande says, gesturing again to the carnage below.

Hanzo simply huffs. He jumps from the balcony, rolls when he hits the floor, and dashes towards the exit. When he reaches it, he pauses, turns back to address Akande. "Perhaps we shall meet again, Doomfist."

"I shall look forward to it!" Akande calls, smiling, and then Hanzo is gone.

  


iii.

The third time they meet goes a little less smoothly.

"I know what happened to your brother," Akande says--makes the mistake of saying, because Hanzo's face twists up and his eyes go bright with rage. He lets loose a roar that Akande supposes is meant to scare him and fires a single arrow into the floor between them, which somehow splits into six separate arrows that ricochet at odd angles. Three of these ricocheting arrows bury themselves in Akande, one in the arm not wearing the gauntlet and two in his chest, and a flicker of annoyance ripples through him. Nothing vital has been damaged, and he'll patch up easily enough; he is more annoyed that he hadn't seen this coming.

"My brother is dead!" Hanzo shouts. "My clan had him killed!"

Akande _does_ know what happened to Hanzo's brother. One of the Talon moles in Overwatch had sent in a report that mentioned a Shimada, Genji Shimada. More digging had discovered a cyborg agent of that name, a rebuilt man, full of fury, who had joined Overwatch around the time the rumors say that--

"I _killed_ my brother," Hanzo says, lowering his voice as he steps closer to Akande, his bow at the ready between them. "You cannot blackmail me into joining you and your organization, _Doomfist_ , and--"

"Akande."

Hanzo pauses. "What?"

"Akande. That is my name." With that, he lunges forward, grabbing Hanzo with the gauntlet and slamming them both back against the far wall. 

As Hanzo scrabbles with both hands at where he's pinned, struggling for breath, Akande finds himself wondering why he'd said that. It's not like his identity is a secret, not really; if Hanzo had wanted to know, surely there are channels he could have used to find out without Akande needing to tell him. And it's not like he needed to throw Hanzo further off balance for this move to have worked--Hanzo had been within range the moment he'd closed the distance between them, and had obviously been emotional enough not to consider this when he'd done so. He hadn't needed to, so why had he?

"Are you certain your brother is dead?" he asks Hanzo, loosening his grip just enough that Hanzo can respond.

"I killed him with my own two hands," he says, his voice a pained rasp. "My brother Genji is dead."

He lets Hanzo drop to the floor. Instead of scrambling for his bow like Akande had expected, Hanzo stays where he's been dropped, on his hands and knees, breathing hard.

"It was not meant as blackmail," Akande says, stepping back. Hanzo tips his head up to give him an unreadable look. "It was--I came here as--" 

He pauses. As what?

"As a friend?" Hanzo does not bother to hide his mocking tone. "I do not have _friends_."

_A shame_ , Akande finds himself thinking. He does not let his eyes linger on the muscles in Hanzo's heaving back, although he discovers that he wants to.

"Conflict makes you stronger," he says aloud. "These things have made you strong, Hanzo."

"But at what cost, Akande?"

He punches down into the floor next to where Hanzo is huddled, splintering the tiling and knocking Hanzo out. He grins to himself as he leaves; the next time they meet will be very interesting.

  


iv.

The next time they meet _is_ interesting. Many years have passed. Akande has been to prison and has broken out again. Talon has brought down Overwatch. The world is changing, but somehow this one thing has not.

It is his first mission out in the world for Talon, a small job that's mostly for show. Before, he would have balked at it, called it unimportant. Now, he knows: both he and Talon are on the rise, and their names will be known.

He does not expect Hanzo to show up, wonders idly if Hanzo's presence here had been intentional or a happy accident. He wonders slightly less idly what Hanzo is here to do, if they have wound up on the same side again, as he faces down Hanzo's bow again in the midst of the smoking rubble.

Hanzo stares at him for a long time, almost too long, before lowering his bow. "It is…" he pauses, inclining his head, not quite smiling, "...good to see you."

"It's good to see you too." Akande lets himself look at Hanzo now. He's a little older, a touch of grey at his temples. His battle gear is different than what Akande remembers, but somehow still only covers about half of his chest. He carries himself a little differently, a little more surely than before. He has...matured.

It is a good look on him.

"This is usually the part where you ask me to join you," Hanzo says, his voice quiet.

"Or the part where you shoot me," Akande reminds him.

"You were right, about my…about what's left of my brother." Hanzo looks away. "I should not have been so hasty, last time we met."

Akande does not mention fighting Hanzo's brother before going to prison, does not ask how Hanzo knows now. He has not missed that no part of what Hanzo has said is an apology. His brother is obviously a sore subject for Hanzo, and if he wants to talk about it at some point, maybe he will. Until then…

"I will let you off easy this time," he says instead, giving Hanzo a sly wink. He is probably imagining things; there is no way that Hanzo blushes at that. He continues, "No sales pitch today. Talon would welcome you if you wanted, but will get by without you if you do not wish to join. It got by without me for years--the new world does not _need_ any of us. All of us are more dispensable than we think."

Hanzo studies his face. "Surely you do not believe that."

Akande shrugs. "I am doing my best to make sure it is never true again."

Hanzo looks like he wants to say something, but the wail of sirens from outside the building interrupts them both. It's time to go.

"Until next time...Akande," Hanzo says, offering him a small wave and what may be an even smaller smile, and then he's gone.

  


v.

The fifth time they meet, Akande does not notice Hanzo until the uniformed man behind him cries out and drops unexpectedly to the ground. When he turns to look, Akande sees a familiar arrow buried in the man's back. Two more men fall in quick succession, and a third takes a full set of ricochet arrow scattershot directly to the face and goes down screaming. Akande is able to follow the arrows' trajectories back to a small sniper's perch he'd noticed earlier; earlier, it had been empty, but now it is occupied by Hanzo Shimada, who gives him a little wave-slash-salute and shoots another man nearby.

Satisfied that he's in no personal danger and that Hanzo is quite literally watching his back, Akande turns his attention again to the task at hand. Three men rush him together; he headbutts the first one, uses the gauntlet to punch the second one though the closest building, and delivers an uppercut to the third one that lifts him up in the air and drops him with deadly force back down to the ground. 

It continues like this until the local police force is spent, or at the very least falls back to regroup and maybe call in reinforcements. In the lull in the fighting, Hanzo scurries down from his perch and joins Akande among the chaos and wreckage they've caused.

"I don't know why you're here," Akande tells Hanzo, offering him a hand to shake, "But I am glad you are."

Hanzo stares at his hand for a moment before extending his own and clasping it in a firm handshake.

It's the first time they've really touched, Akande realizes. It shouldn't feel momentous, but it does, a little bit. He finds he doesn't want to let go.

He had come out of prison angry, ready to take down anyone who stood in his way. He hadn't expected to encounter anyone who didn't. He hadn't thought about Hanzo. 

Without meaning to, he says, "Hanzo, you should consider joining us. I think we'd see eye to eye." 

"I would have little to gain from such an arrangement. No, I will find my own path." Hanzo laughs a little, gives Akande another mysterious look--this one from under his eyelashes.

"You are very stubborn."

"And you are very persistent!" Hanzo moves to take a seat on the wrecked car nearby, and after a moment, Akande joins him. 

"Fine, I will stop asking. Consider it an open invitation." When Akande sits, Hanzo unclips a flask from his belt and takes a swig from it before offering it to Akande.

Akande shakes his head.

"No time for a drink with a friend?" Hanzo asks, although by the look on his face, he appears to regret asking the moment the words have left his mouth.

_I thought you didn't have friends,_ Akande thinks. What he says instead is, "No, I imagine things will be starting up again any minute." As if on cue, they begin to hear movement a few streets over.

Hanzo gets to his feet, turns so Akande cannot see his face. "I shouldn't be here when they do." He turns back. "Neither should you."

Akande checks his communicator--nothing yet from the rest of the Talon squad. The digital security on that bank vault must be harder to crack than Sombra had promised. He's not the main event here; he's the diversion. 

"No, I am here for a little while longer. I am sorry to see you go…friend." He resolutely ignores the way something flutters in his stomach when he says this, focusing instead on the way Hanzo definitely goes bright pink.

"Is that what we are?"

Akande looks at the expanse of Hanzo's bare skin, and at Hanzo's face, and doesn't have an answer.

"Until next time, Akande," Hanzo says, and it sounds like the easiest thing in the world.

  


vi.

The next time they meet, there is no chaos, no corpses, no violence whatsoever. Akande is not proud, but he has finally called in some favors and found Hanzo's base of operations--ostensibly to recruit the archer to the Talon cause, but really, he just wants to see him again.

He finds Hanzo in the street market near his hideout, wearing a heavy coat and staring longingly at a stall full of desserts. A smile tugs at Akande's lips, and he steps up behind Hanzo and asks the vendor for two large slices of the cake in the front.

Hanzo whirls at the sound of his voice, suddenly on high alert. After a moment his eyes go wide with recognition. "Akande!" he says, and Akande's heart jumps a little at how pleased Hanzo sounds. "What are you doing here? I almost did not recognize you with--" he gestures vaguely at Akande's arms and chest and the sweater he's wearing, "--with a shirt on!"

Behind the stall counter, the woman cutting the cake slices pauses, raises an eyebrow at them. Hanzo turns bright red.

"You were difficult to recognize yourself!" Akande says quickly, kindly. He almost doesn't recognize the impulse. "What have you done with your hair?"

Hanzo pats his undercut carefully, preening a little bit. "It is not what people expect from me. Makes me harder to find."

The woman hands Akande the two slices of cake, and he hands one to Hanzo. After the bill has been settled, the two of them make their way to the end of the market, where some small tables have been set up for market customers to enjoy the food they've purchased. Hanzo digs into his cake with gusto, and Akande pokes at his as well. It is very good cake.

"So what is this, bribery?" Hanzo asks, waving his plastic fork at Akande. "I thought we were done asking me to come join you."

"Can't a friend buy a friend a piece of cake without it being some kind of work-related overture?"

"Friends? Is that what we are?" Hanzo asks again. 

Akande still doesn't have a good answer. Hanzo is capable, handsome, and has proven that even if he's not on Talon's side, he's definitely on Akande's side, which is more than Akande can say about anybody in Talon. He's spent a lot of time thinking about Hanzo since they last met, and while he's pretty sure they're friends--as much as either of them have any--he's also pretty sure that's not all he wants from Hanzo. 

"Is that not what you want?" Akande asks.

Hanzo studies his face. He feels somehow dangerously exposed, in a way that all his martial arts training and even his cybernetics can't reassure. He doesn't like it. It's thrilling.

"If I knew for certain that you would not punch me through a wall for asking," Hanzo begins carefully, "I would ask you back to my place."

"Oh?" Akande keeps his voice and face neutral, moves a small piece of cake around on his plate, trying not to hope--

"When we got there--if we got there--I might ask to kiss you."

"Oh," Akande breathes. He reaches across the table and takes Hanzo's hand in his. 

( _This isn't weakness,_ he tells himself. _This is a thing he wants to have, and he is strong enough to have it._ ) 

Hanzo freezes, and then his face breaks out into a grin. "Oh," he echoes. " _Oh_."

Back at Hanzo's place, Akande lets Hanzo push him down onto the sofa, lets Hanzo climb on top into his lap, lets Hanzo kiss him. The manhandling can come later-- _will_ come later, if the needy glint in Hanzo's eye is any indication. Akande has not spent much time being soft, and he is finding, to his surprise, that he does not mind it so much, not when it's Hanzo's lips on his, Hanzo's hands wandering across his torso, Hanzo's tongue licking into his mouth.

"I told you we'd see eye to eye," he says when Hanzo pulls away.

Hanzo laughs. "If I'd known that this was what you meant, I would have taken you up on your offers much sooner." He kisses Akande again, and again, and again.


End file.
